


Not With Haste

by generalfrings



Category: Fifth Harmony (Band)
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-09
Updated: 2015-09-09
Packaged: 2018-04-19 21:09:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4761083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/generalfrings/pseuds/generalfrings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lauren plans literally nothing about how it happens. </p><p>Maybe she should feel bad about it, but she can't bring herself to care when the end result is Ally on her lap kissing her like there's no tomorrow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not With Haste

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I have no idea how Snapchat actually works.
> 
> This is my attempt at making up for all that angst from last time. It's a different style from _Hold Me Without Touch_ , so I hope you guys enjoy it.

They're having their last radio interview of the day, and the interviewer has just given them that peculiar kind of smile that means some personal questions are a-coming. 

Lauren holds back the roll of her eyes when he leans into the microphone with a smirk that makes her think of every sleazy ex she's had.

"Alright, ladies, so question of the night, a lot of our listeners are sure to want to know: what's you all's relationship status?" 

They all react as expected, of course, laughing politely and teasing each other over the topic. Camila jokingly asks if wishfully staring at a Chris Hemsworth poster counts as a valid relationship status for her answer, and Mani says that if it does, she herself is currently happily married to Drake.

When it's Ally's turn for her answer, she chuckles and adjusts her headset. Already knowing what's coming next, Lauren takes the opportunity to think up if she'll be curt on her own answer or if maybe she should say she recently proposed to Dinah with an onion ring instead.

However, instead of deflecting the question like Lauren assumed she would, Ally says "I'm single, actually," and all the girls' eyes instantly snap towards her in ill masked surprise. 

It's not like any of them didn't _know_ , since it's been about four months since the breakup, but Ally is an incredibly private person when it comes down to certain things. They'd all just assumed she was going to keep silent about it like she'd been so far.

"It's different, I'm getting used to it still," Ally continues in a light tone, "I was in a relationship for a long time so I'm learning to enjoy being single again. It's fun!"

The interviewer makes a semi flirty joke back at Ally before starting to wrap things up, and Lauren realizes she never got to give her own answer, too busy staring at the side of Ally's face in surprise.

 

*******

 

"Hey, you doing okay with the social media influx?" Lauren asks at breakfast the next day, watching Ally scroll through her phone on the table. "You know, after yesterday?" 

They all know for a fact that as soon as the recorded interview had spread, Ally and Troy's public accounts started getting flooded with all sorts of messages, from sad through joyous (which, what?) all the way to the rudely intrusive.

"Hmm?" Ally asks distractedly as she munches on her pancakes, before looking up to meet Lauren's gaze. "Oh, yeah! Troy and I talked about it."

"How did that go?" Mani asks softly across from her, and Ally shrugs.

"It was fine. He wanted closure, and it's only fair to him. It had to come out eventually." She wiggles her fingers at the juice bottle at the other end of the table until Camila hands it to her, and puts her phone down to refill her glass.

"You think he'll set his accounts to private soon?" Dinah asks, looking down at her own phone. Lauren leans over to look over Dinah's shoulder to find her scrolling through Ally's mentions, plenty of them mentioning Troy as well.

Ally laughs, then. "I warned him about that. I guess we'll see!"

*******

 

"Ally..." Lauren whines, uselessly, trying to tug her hand from Ally's grip as she trudges miserably along with her through the streets. Ally's only response is a giggle as she carries on and damn nearly drags Lauren behind her.

The only thing Lauren can do is let herself be dragged by her hand, trying not to fall asleep on her feet as she thinks wishfully about being back in the heat of her bunk instead of out here.

She's not even sure how Ally had gotten her to leave. One moment Lauren was using her phone sleepily while cozy and warm in her bunk, thinking about going back to sleep for a couple more hours since they had half the day off, and then next thing she knew her phone was blowing up with texts about Waffle House from Ally, and... Now she's here somehow, still trying to blink out the sleep from her eyes and on her way to breakfast.

It's freezing cold out, and Lauren pulls her beanie down further over her head with one hand while the other remains clutched tightly in Ally's. Ally carries forward like she's on a mission, like somehow it's not hardly 7AM and she's not being a lunatic about wanting to go eat something other than waffles from a place called Waffle House.

She's crazy, and Lauren hates her.

It's what Lauren tells Ally grouchily as they reach the place, and Ally only laughs at her as she opens the door to Waffle House and guides her inside.

It's a tad bit warmer inside, and Ally finally releases her grip on her hand, like now that they're inside she's sure Lauren is not about to run off back to the tour bus. Lauren rubs her hands together as Ally greets a waiter by name - _of course_ \- and follows her to a booth that looks far cozier than it probably is to Lauren's tired eyes.

She slides into the booth on one end until she can rest her sideagainst its curve, and Ally slides in across from her, turning away from her animated conversation with the waiter to ask Lauren what she wants to have.

"Well, I mean, we're at Waffle House," Lauren says, not sure why Ally is looking at her like she's about to proclaim an incredibly important decision. "So, uh. Waffles?"

When Ally scrunches her eyebrows together, and asks a _really_?, Lauren is almost offended.

"What? Isn't that what you're like, _supposed_ to order at Waffle House?"

"I never pegged you for someone who's so eager to do what's expected of you that badly," Ally retorts, and Lauren wants to punch her for dragging her out of bed to listen to this.

"Well _fine_ , then you order, you're the specialist here."

"I guess I will then," Ally replies back in a snarky tone, but with a smile replacing her playful scowl soon after, and Lauren feels her own lips quirk up at the banter.

Lauren tunes off Ally's rambling of their order as she rests her cheek on her propped up fist, tapping on her phone distractedly after staring out the window for a few minutes and trying not to fall asleep.

"Thanks for coming with me," Ally says a few minutes after their waiter's walked off, and Lauren looks up at her and squints when she sees her bright smile. It looks like Ally is wiggling her legs back and forth beneath the table by the way she bounces slightly in her spot, and honestly, how can she be this much of a sunshine so early in the morning?

"I still don't understand you sometimes," Lauren says, but smiles. "It's fine, though. I'd be flattered if I didn't know you only asked me because Big Rob is feeling under the weather."

Ally gasps, offended. "I did not!" At Lauren's raised eyebrow, her features turn sheepish. "Mostly."

"Gosh, you sure know how to make a girl feel special," Lauren quips sarcastically.

Ally coos at her and stands up from her seat, reaching over the table to smush Lauren's cheeks between her hands. "Aww, don't be like that," Ally quips in an exaggeratedly chipper tone, reaching nearly her entire body over the table as Lauren tries to lean back out of her reach. "You know I love you, _Lolo_!"

"Ally, stop," Lauren whines, giggling despite her best efforts when Ally lands a sloppy kiss against her cheek before settling back in her own seat with a grin.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm paying," Ally says, and well. Lauren won't lie that it kind of does. Who is she to diss free food?

So Lauren settles down and engages in Ally's conversation, chuckling softly at the animated way Ally gestures with her hands as she tells her a story.

When a waitress starts bringing them their food, Lauren is flabbergasted. "Jesus Christ, Ally," Lauren notes, eyeing the ridiculous amount of food that she's carrying.

"Here you go, ladies," the waitress says, dropping the plates one by one onto the table, naming them each in turn, and Lauren loses track somewhere around the triple chunked hickory smoked ham hashbrowns, just staring down at the quickly filling table in awe. "And, finally, one specially prepared Alice's Iced Tea-Monade for the charming lady, just like you asked," the waitress says, plopping a glass down in front of Lauren. "Y'all enjoy now," she says.

Ally claps excitedly and thanks their server profusely before starting to dig in, and Lauren takes the opportunity to snap a picture to post to her instagram, because Ally surrounded by that much food and clearly intending to eat it all is a sight to behold.

The sudden grumble Lauren's stomach makes has Ally looking up with a laugh. "Come on, I didn't order all of this for myself. Look," she says, pointing to a waffle. "I even ordered you a waffle. Abiding by society's expectations and all, just like you wanted."

Lauren chucks a piece of sausage Ally's way in annoyance before grabbing her fork and starting to eat as well before Ally eats everything (which she doesn't doubt she would).

She's pretty sure she's had half as much food as Ally has by the time Lauren has to lean back against the booth and rest a hand over her stomach to let out a sated sigh.

She chuckles lightly as she takes notice of the trickle of sauce by the corner of Ally's mouth, and shakes her head when Ally looks up inquiringly, gesturing over her own mouth until Ally wipes a napkin over the right spot.

She's content to lean her head onto the booth and watch Ally compliment their waiter when she comes to check up on them, and she's just so comfortable and sated that she can't help dozing off for a minute or two there, until Ally's suddenly sat next to her and shaking her arm gently.

"Come on sleepyhead," Ally says, reaching up to adjust Lauren's beanie from where it'd fallen down her forehead. "We can go back to the bus and take a nap."

Lauren murmurs her consent and lets herself be pulled from the booth, trailing after Ally and rubbing her cheek distractedly after Ally kisses it and thanks her again for coming with her.

 

*******

Big Rob jokes with Lauren one day that he feels like he's been replaced.

And it's not really true, not at all, but Lauren _has_ accompanied Ally a lot to Waffle Houses these past few weeks.

She jokes backs with him that she'll thank him forever if he manages to set her free, and promptly gets smacked in the stomach by Ally.

 

*******

 

There's no Waffle House in the state that they're in this time - Ally makes her google it just to make sure, perched over her shoulder on the couch, and Lauren is about to smack her in the face with her phone to get her to stop asking if she's _sure_. 

She shows Ally the page on her phone listing the number of Waffle House locations per state in the US (there's even a colored graph sorted by density per state), and it finally gets Ally to lay off.

Ally rolls onto her back and plops herself down onto Lauren's lap with an exaggerated huff. "I can't believe there's places in the world that don't have a _single_ Waffle House," she says, and Lauren couldn't have rolled her eyes harder if she tried.

"You're absolutely ridiculous," she says, poking Ally in the cheek gently with a finger, chuckling when Ally huffs in offense. "Come on, I'll take you out for ice cream instead, how about that?"

Ally squints up at her like she's trying to make sure she's not being tricked. "What kind of ice cream?" she asks tentatively.

"Any kind you want. Just to help you get over your heartbreak at the owners of Waffle House for not having achieved world domination yet."

"Joe _did_ kind of break my heart with that."

"Oh my God," Lauren says incredulously, pushing Ally off herself and letting the girls know they're going out before she wonders if Ally really does know the owner of Waffle House's name by heart.

(She googles it later, and _of course_ she does.)

*******

They only have a couple of hours tops before they have to go back to the van to head for a photoshoot, so they google the nearest ice cream places and find a Cold Stone just a couple blocks away.

The place is fairly empty when they get there, and they crowd into a booth together as Ally looks over a menu. "Oh my God," Ally squeaks, pressed against Lauren's shoulder, and points at one of the items in the list. "I know what I'm ordering."

Lauren frowns down at the menu and sees Ally is pointing to something called _That's How I Roll_ , and her frown only gets more confused when she reads the list of ingredients. " _Really_? Why?"

"You'll see," Ally says in a giggle, taking her phone out and tapping her Snapchat app open.

"Okay, weirdo," Lauren drawls out, and settles for the berries combo for herself and goes to order while Ally starts a Snapchat story, apparently filming the menu for a few seconds while she talks to her phone.

When she comes back with both their ice creams in her hands, Ally points the camera at her and then focuses it on the ice cream she had ordered with a grin.

When Ally starts singing _This Is How We Roll_ , Lauren groans loudly. "Oh my God," she says, and hands over Ally's ice cream in near disgust as Ally starts laughing. "I hate you for that joke."

She feels avenged when Ally takes a bite out of her order and her expression immediately turns sour. She of course has to steal Ally's phone and resume Snapchat, recording Ally as she looks for all intents and purposes like she's trying not to spit the ice cream out.

Lauren laughs loudly as she keeps the recording going. "I guess you could say that..." she turns the camera to herself, and can't hold back the dorky grin as she continues, "that joke just wasn't _Worth_ _It."_

Lauren cuts the video off after Ally lets out a loud boisterous laugh at that, and laughs harder herself when she sees Ally scrambling for a napkin to clean up the mess she'd made by nearly snorting out the ice cream in her mouth.

They end up sharing Lauren's ice cream after that, Ally pushing her own order away from them on the booth delicately like she's afraid to seem rude for not liking it. Well, she only shares after Ally whips out the puppy dog eyes on her; it makes Lauren let out an exaggerated sigh before she yields with a grumbled _fine_.

Ally tweets out one more thing as they eat, a ridiculous thing that says _Joke responsibly, yall_ which makes Lauren snort and roll her eyes at her fondly.

Ally grins at her, and her gaze drops to Lauren's lips briefly before she reaches over to drag her thumb across Lauren's upper lip. "You've got some..." she trails off and wipes off the stray ice cream that had stuck to Lauren's mouth.

That's all fine and dandy, and Lauren's about to thank her when Ally proceeds pull her thumb back and lick it clean. _That's_ when Lauren's breath catches.

Lauren can't get herself to tear her eyes away from the sight of Ally sucking her finger clean, and she has to lick her own suddenly dry lips at it. She swears there's a twitch in her heart when she meets Ally's eyes once she slides her finger from her mouth, and she desperately hopes she's not being as obvious as she feels.

She feels like something settles with the warm feeling in her chest when Ally smiles at her then, eyes squinting the way they do sometimes when she smiles like that.

Lauren breathes through the feeling and lets Ally lace their fingers together when they're making their way back to the tour bus, squeezing her hand in hers as her heart skips a beat and makes the grin on her lips go dopey.

 

*******

They've been in LA for a couple of weeks now, and they're nearing the last few days in their apartments before they finally have a couple of days off for themselves.

Dinah's hopped over to Mani and Camila's apartment to record some dance videos, which leaves Lauren and Ally to spend their night bickering over the TV remote.

"Lauren, I'm not watching another episode of _How Things Are Made_ ," Ally says firmly, trying to pry Lauren's fingers open from where they grip the remote tightly to herself.

"But it's fascinating!" Lauren whines, "and it's really soothing to watch!"

"Bride Wars just started, Laur. I told you I wanted to watch it!" Ally shoots back, and decides to switch strategies as she reaches in to tickle Lauren on the stomach.

Lauren squeaks and drops her hold on the remote to shield herself from Ally's fingers, which makes Ally immediately take advantage of her moment of weakness to switch channels to where Kate Hudson is bickering away with Anne Hathaway.

"That wasn't fair!"

"War's not fair, Lauren," Ally responds dramatically, and Lauren hits her over the head with a cushion.

Lauren does end up relenting, though, mostly because Ally points out that the How Things Are Made marathon is still going to run for four more hours, and maybe also because she opens her arms and tells Lauren to suck it up and come cuddle. Which Lauren does, after making a point to roll her eyes and settle into her with a huff.

She nods off a couple of times through the movie, cheek resting on Ally's chest, soothed by the rhythm of Ally's breathing and the feeling of her fingers running gently through her hair. Lauren's lips curve in a stubborn smile at the feel of it, and her smile only widens whenever Ally chuckles as something she finds funny happens in the movie.

Lauren lets out a heavy sigh as she blinks her eyes open, her arms tightening briefly around Ally's waist as she stretches slightly on her spot.

Lauren gazes at the TV screen and wonders what time it must be, taking note of the sad music on the background as Anne Hathaway seems to... sadly go for a jog, or something, which she assumes means the movie's been running for a while. She makes herself sit up slightly before she ends up falling asleep again, still leaning heavily into Ally as she does so.

Ally's fingers have stilled where they were running through her hair, resting lightly over the curve of Lauren's neck instead as Lauren readjusts herself to rest her cheek on Ally's shoulder and allows Ally to continue focusing on the movie. 

Lauren doesn't realize she's started running light circles with her fingertips over Ally's hip until she catches the sudden rise of Ally's chest when there's a hitch to her breath, and then Lauren's own heart is going erratic at their proximity - Lauren's front pressed against Ally's side, arm around her waist and knees pressed into Ally's thigh on the couch, and she wonders if Ally can feel how hard her heart's beating against her right about now.

She looks up at Ally's face from her perch on her shoulder, takes note of the way her bottom lip's caught between her teeth as she stares ahead at the TV, and Lauren really, really wishes Ally would look back at her right about now. 

Ally does - briefly, just a flicker of her eyes down at Lauren when Lauren's fingers still over her hip, and the way she swallows is not lost on Lauren.

It makes something that feels a lot like courage to wash over Lauren then, and she feels like she's in some kind of a haze as she raises her hand from Ally's hip to cup her cheek, gently turning her head so she's looking back at her.

Ally swallows again, then, heavily, and Lauren can see her gaze flickering down to Lauren's lips. It's enough to make all the doubts Lauren's had these past couple of weeks vanish, all the tentative touches and confusing moments suddenly make sense, and when she leans in, she sees Ally's eyes drop closed just before their noses brush and their lips touch.

Ally's fingers tighten their grip on the back of her neck, and Lauren can't help the forceful exhale that leaves her when Ally tilts her head and presses back further into the kiss. She swears the room spins around them when Ally takes her bottom lip in her mouth - or maybe that's just her dire need for air, which she realizes might be the case with how she's holding her breath to try and savor this as best as she can.

She pulls back from the kiss with her eyes still shut tightly, hand cupping Ally's jaw, and she breathes heavily for a few moments, lips curving up into a smile as she tries to deal with how much she's trembling with giddy emotion right now.

She feels Ally press a light peck to her lips then, making her smile turn into a grin, and when she opens her eyes she finds Ally looking back at her with such care that it has her chuckling in disbelief.

"God," she whispers, voice cracking as she presses her forehead to Ally's for a moment. "I've been wanting to do that for... I don't even know how long."

She can't take her eyes off Ally's smile, feels it echoed in the rapid beat of her heart and the shivers that run down her back when Ally runs her nails lightly over the back of her neck. "I really want you to do it again," Ally says, and Lauren lets out an embarrassing giggle as she cups Ally's cheeks and leans back in.

*******

 

It's a few days later and Lauren's home in Miami, feeling like she's ready to go into a food coma after the meal she's just had.

She's lying in bed with an arm thrown over her head, considering groggily whether she should try to get up and enjoy some time with her family rather than fall asleep, but she's so comfortable that her eyes are starting to droop closed, and she _really_ doesn't want to move.

Her phone buzzes annoyingly from beneath her pillow then, and she huffs as she reaches for it and wonders why it wasn't set to silent in the first place.

The annoyed quirk to her lips vanishes as soon as she sees that Ally's just texted her.

_I'm kind of really missing you_

A warm feeling settles in Lauren's chest as she imagines Ally texting her from her bed, and she brings her phone up to text her back.

_I'm kind of really missing you too_

When she sees that Ally's typing a response, Lauren turns onto her side so she can type more comfortably, pushing back the thought of how ready she was to fall asleep literally thirty seconds ago in favor of biting down on her lip to hold back a grin when she gets Ally's next message.

*******

 

They all go out for lunch together - they only have an hour free before they have to be back in the studio for recording, so it's easier to all pile up into the van and go out together.

The diner they end up heading into is small and cozy, and they all have to cramp up into a booth to fit, Lauren squished between Dinah and Ally, pushing her hair back behind her shoulders before dropping her hand to Ally's thigh beneath the table almost instinctively.

Ally's hand covers hers as she laughs loudly at what Mani's telling her from her other side, and Lauren shakes her head with a fond smile when Ally presses into her side as her laugh drops to giggles.

It's so easy to be near Ally that Lauren has to constantly catch herself to not kiss her in the most innocuous of moments, like when they're sharing a bag of chips with Normani while on a break at the studio or something, or if not that, she constantly has to force herself to drag her eyes away from Ally at times like when she and Dinah are dancing exaggeratedly for one of Dinah's snapchats.

She holds back not because she's ashamed or doubtful about what they have going on, far from it actually - Ally makes her feel like her chest's going to burst at the seams if she doesn't scream out her feelings sometimes, and she could not be happier to get to have that.

It's just that they don't need to talk about it for Lauren to know that they're both inherently very private people, Ally even more so when it comes to these things. Or at least that's what she's been assuming - that Ally is fine with leaving things between them, and that maybe she even prefers it rather than sharing it with the girls and the world for now.

Not to mention Lauren hasn't exactly told Ally how she feels yet. Sort of. Kind of?

Like, there haven't been any great declarations or anything, so she's not sure how she's supposed to tell anyone else about it when she hasn't even told Ally herself. It's what Lauren thinks to herself every time she clicks reblog on something a bit too mushy on her blog, that that's why she can't agree with Camila when she gushes about romance around her.

Still. Lauren thinks it must be pretty obvious to Ally how she feels about her because of the way Lauren can't help _being_ around her.

Like, it's damn near impossible that Ally hasn't noticed how hard Lauren heart beats when Ally is nuzzling in to drop kisses to her neck when they're alone, or the flushed way about her when they're tangled in the couch and have been kissing for what feels like hours.

And there have been times when Lauren's felt mushy and affectionate, when she's sighed deeply into Ally's mouth and mumbled how much she likes her against her lips... Times when she's fallen asleep holding her close and running her fingers through Ally's hair, hummed at the affectionate murmurs Ally's pressed into her collarbone.

But even with all of that, Lauren hasn't really put into words how Ally makes her feel in moments like this one, when Lauren's hand slides slightly to grip the inside of Ally's thigh under the table and she can feel the goosebumps on Ally's skin as she crosses her legs and presses in closer against Lauren's side.

Lauren really hasn't told her what her heart screams out when Ally's eyes meet her own like just now, and when Ally tangles her fingers with hers instead of pushing her hand away in favor of discretion, she decides she will tell her as soon as Camila's not munching loudly on chips two feet away.

*******

 

Lauren plans literally nothing about how it happens, and maybe she should feel bad about it, but she can't bring herself to care when the end result is Ally on her lap kissing her like there's no tomorrow.

They had a show today that went _amazing_. It was at a crowdfunding event, and the crowd was lively and excited, singing along with them constantly, even in songs that hadn't been as bigger hits as others. They'd even laughed at Camila's jokes when they were setting up in between songs, which is always a sign of how engaged the crowd is feeling.

It was great, and they had all left feeling pumped with energy rather than exhausted - Lauren had allowed herself to spend more time than usual taking pictures and interacting with the fans afterwards, had accepted their gifts and laughed at their jokes, replied to fake marriage proposals with teasing words, and eventually let herself be dragged off by security when she saw Mani pulling away from her last selfie.

When they got back to the hotel, Lauren felt like she could spend all night celebrating with the girls, and she really wished they had some alcohol to go along with it, but the reminder that they had another show and a long drive to make tomorrow was enough to make them agree to part ways to each of their hotel rooms.

Lauren was still feeling alight with energy, though, and Ally comments on it when they close the door to the room they were sharing.

"You look like you could run a marathon right now," she says, sitting down on her bed and starting to take off her heels.

"I _feel_ like it," Lauren exclaims, kicking off her own boots and dropping onto her knees next to Ally on the bed. "Today was great. I love doing this," she says, grinning, bouncing on her spot slightly. "I love doing this with you," she adds fondly when Ally flicks her on the nose with a smile.

Ally grins along with her and giggles when Lauren leans in to drop a loud smack onto her lips. "I love it too," she says, watching as Lauren rolls back to lay on her side on the bed, hand reached out to run her fingers over the hem of Ally's top.

"I," Lauren starts, just about to say it, because Ally's hair is messy and she's looking at her with the greatest smile and it feels _right_. "Come here," she murmurs instead, watching Ally remove her earrings before she leans in to lie on her side facing Lauren. "Isn't it great rooming together?" Lauren asks then, a smile tugging at her lips as she reaches out to brush Ally's hair back from her face.

"Oh, totally," Ally chuckles, leaning in to peck her on the lips. Before she can pull back, though, Lauren hooks her hand around the back of Ally's neck and presses closer, tugging at her bottom lip with her teeth lightly before covering her mouth with her own.

Lauren can feel the sharp exhale of Ally's breath when she licks into her mouth, and it makes her gut clench and coil when Ally tilts her head to kiss her back deeply, brushing her hand just beneath her shirt to grip her waist tightly - and Christ. If Lauren was feeling abuzz with excitement before, there's nothing that can describe how she feels _now_.

"God," Lauren mumbles against Ally's lips, drags her mouth down to trail kisses along the curve of her neck once she brushes her hair back gently with a flick of her hand. She feels alight when Ally hooks a leg around her knee, their bodies pressing flush against each other's, and she cannot believe they haven't taken this further than this when being this close and intimate makes Lauren feel like there's molten heat settling low in her gut.

"Laur," Ally sighs, her hand leaving her waist to clutch at her lower back instead when Lauren rakes her teeth over the spot on her neck that she'd been kissing, careful not to bruise the skin despite how much she wants to.

"I think I'm in love with this," Lauren murmurs, lifting her head back up and kissing the jut of Ally's chin lightly before taking her mouth with her own again, groaning when Ally's mouth parts under hers immediately. "I--" she swallows heavily as they share heavy breaths when their lips part, flickers her eyes from Ally's red lips to her dark eyes, and she's never felt so right as she does right now. "I think I'm in love with you," she says, heart beating erratically in her chest as she waits for Ally's reaction.

Ally blinks, pulls back slightly to look at her, and opens her mouth. "You-" She cuts herself off, and Lauren bites down on her own bottom lip, because she really hopes that the incredulous look on her face doesn't mean that Lauren's just screwed things up. "You think?"

"Well," Lauren says, running her hand up and down Ally's side in an attempt to soothe her own nerves. "That was me trying and failing at being nonchalant about it." She notices a dopey smile start to spread across Ally's lips, and her nervousness starts to ebb away at the sight. "Thanks for ruining that," she says with a wry smile.

Ally laughs shakily, wraps her arms around Lauren's shoulders in a tight hug and rolls on top of her, forcing Lauren to lie on her back to hug her back just as tightly. "Lord," Ally chuckles into her neck, "me too."

"You too are thankful for ruining the moment?"

Ally pulls back to rest onto Lauren's hips and pinch her on the side, and the stern look on her face makes Laure laugh loudly. "Shut up, now _you're_ ruining it," Ally says.

"Oh no," Lauren drawls out, grinning up at her and resting her hands on her hips. "How am I to ever make it up to you?"

"You could ask me to be your girlfriend for starters," Ally retorts, leaning down to hover over Lauren with an arm pressed beside her head on the pillow.

"I guess that's one idea," Lauren says, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips even as she tries to school her features into a serious expression. "How do you feel about it?"

"I think I'm in love with it," Ally quips back, and Lauren laughs loudly before cupping her cheeks with her hands and pulling her back down into a kiss.

 

*******

Lauren wakes up with a groan, rolling over and almost falling off the edge of the bed before she gets the chance to realize how close she was lying to it.

"Ugh," she lets out in a low voice, blinking blearily at the nightstand and reaching out her hand to look at the time on her phone. "Christ," she mutters when she sees it's hardly three in the morning.

Rubbing her eyes, Lauren looks to her side to see Ally's back turned to her in the bed, illuminated only by the street lights peaking through the window. She's apparently still deep in sleep, so Lauren hoists herself up silently and trudges carefully to the bathroom to relieve her bladder. She tries her best to be quiet and navigate the room in the semi darkness, and she mostly succeeds except for when she trips over Ally's shoes (or possibly her own) thrown on the floor by the empty bed.

The light of the bathroom feels harsh to her eyes when she turns it on after closing the bathroom door gently, and if she ends up losing her sleep after this she swears she will be _so_ annoyed.

Regardless, she finishes up and washes her hands as quietly as possible, grimacing as literally everything she touches seems to be ten times louder than usual, the noise seeming to bounce off the walls as she moves around.

When she turns off the light and trudges back into the bedroom, her eyes take a bit to adjust to the darkness, and she runs her hand over the bed before climbing back onto it, lifting the sheets and trying not to disturb Ally as she climbs back in next to her.

Her efforts seem to have been wasted, though, because Ally lets out a sleepy murmur and turns onto her side to face her, hand reaching out to rest on Lauren's stomach. "Hi," she sighs, sliding closer and pressing a light kiss to her shoulder.

"Hey," Lauren whispers, turning onto her side to face her with a fond smile. "I'm sorry I woke you up, babe."

"It's okay," Ally says, a sleepy smile on her lips. "Hey, guess what," she asks, pressing her feet into Lauren's under the sheets.

"Hmm?"

"You're my girlfriend," Ally says, reaching in to rest her head on the same pillow as Lauren, and her content little smile has Lauren letting out a low chuckle.

"That's right," Lauren says fondly, reaching up to brush her fingers lightly over Ally's cheek.

"I like the sound of that," Ally murmurs, her eyes dropping to Lauren's lips briefly before meeting her gaze again. It's probably just the fact that the only light in the room is coming weakly from outside through the curtains, but Lauren's sure Ally's eyes look significantly darker than normal right about now.

"Me too," Lauren whispers, fingers pausing where they were trailing lightly down Ally's cheek, and she tils her head in just enough to close the space between their lips, their noses brushing lightly together as she does.

She can feel the whoosh of Ally's breath past her cheek just before she presses in closer and turns the brush of lips into a proper kiss, and there's something about the quiet and darkness around them that has Lauren's stomach fluttering more than usual when Ally takes her bottom lip into her mouth to suck at it. 

Ally's hand clutches at her neck when Lauren slides her hand around Ally's waist to the small of her back, pulling her in close as she tilts her head in and parts Ally's lips with her own to deepen their kiss with a hum, feeling herself get lost in the feeling of her.

Lauren's running out of breath by the time Ally pulls back from their kiss to lean slightly over her instead, and when Ally brushes her hair back to lean in close and rake her teeth over Lauren's earlobe, her heart constricts in her chest.

"Laur," Ally hums by her ear at the scratch of Lauren's fingers over the small of her back, and Lauren's eyes slam shut when Ally takes her earlobe into her mouth, shivers running up and down her body in reaction.

"Ally," she gasps heavily, chest heaving against Ally's as Ally tugs with her teeth at her earlobe. When Ally pulls back to look down at her, she has no right looking that good, hair mussed and eyes flitting down to stare at Lauren's lips. When Ally licks her lips before smiling down at her, Lauren shakes her head almost incredulously, because she honestly can't believe she's hers sometimes.

She just has to lean up and kiss her again then, and when their mouths meet a bit too forcefully at her enthusiasm, she mutters a halfhearted _sorry_ against Ally's lips and buries a hand in Ally's hair. She finds herself leaning up and pressing Ally backwards gently until Ally's rolling onto her back, sheets rustling quietly around them as Lauren settles on top of her.

She feels like she's in a haze as she straddles Ally's thighs and drops kisses down her neck, running a hand under Ally's top to grip at the curve of her waist, fingers trailing lightly over her ribs and hesitating there. The soft sigh Ally gives when she nips at her pulse point spurrs her on, so she trails her hand higher and parts her lips to suck lightly at the curve of her neck as the fading scent of Ally's perfume fills her nostrils and makes her head spin. 

When Ally's hands slide from where they were gripping Lauren's thighs to reach up and tug at her sleep shirt, Lauren pulls back to look down at her in what she hopes is not obvious excitement - or, worse, even more obvious nervousness. "Ally," she starts, words failing her when Ally looks up at her, hair framing her face on the pillow and chest heaving with heavy breaths. "You...?"

Ally bites her lip, nods, and when she grips the bottom of Lauren's sleep shirt and starts pushing it up, the only thing Lauren can do is raise her arms and help her push it off, watching with bated breath as Ally's gaze drops to her naked chest afterwards. 

The cold air in contact with her bare skin makes her shiver, but nothing compares to the reaction Ally forces from her when she breathes out harshly and traces her hands up Lauren's torso to cup her breasts, fingers shaking. The awe in her voice when she tells her she's beautiful makes Lauren's throat go tight, and she can't find it in herself to put what she's feeling into words, so she leans down and kisses her deeply instead.

Lauren's probably never felt so shaky and anxious in her life as they fall into each other, the rustle of fabric as they help each other undress surrounding them and her ears ringing at the sound of their heavy breaths filling the room. Ally admits nervously that she's never done this with another girl before, and Lauren laughs shakily at it, framing her face tenderly with her hands. "I guess that makes both of us."

Her heart leaps in her throat when she's dragging the last of Ally's clothing down her legs, and she drops reverent kisses to every piece of skin she can, wanting more than anything to be able to make Ally feel as special as she is to her. When Lauren pauses and presses the question into her skin, Ally murmurs that yes, she's sure, and the feeling of her when they're pressed intimately against each other drives heat to Lauren's very core.

Her pulse beats down to the edges of her fingertips as she traces them over Ally's body to chase goosebumps, shivering herself at the realization of how her touch is affecting Ally. Her lips tingle where she touches them to previously unexplored patches of skin, and her head spins at the throaty sound of Ally's voice when she gasps her name next to her ear.

It's not perfect, not by any means. 

There's plenty of awkward bumps against each other, nervous touches and giggles pressed into skin as they try to figure out what works best, and at one point Ally's leg jerks abruptly when a too soft touch makes her tickle. The knee to Lauren's stomach might've killed the mood if this was anyone but Ally, but as it is it just makes her laugh fondly and swallow Ally's apologies into another kiss until they turn into breathy moans instead.

It's not perfect, but it sure feels like it when Ally sinks into her afterwards, pressing the length of her body unabashedly against hers and falling asleep with drowsy murmurs of affection against her neck.

 

*******

 

 _The very best girl_ , is the caption Lauren adds before she posts the selfie she and Ally just took to her Instagram.

It's really not that big of a deal - Ally's leaning into her in the picture and looking up at the camera with a smile as she holds her cup of coffee up, Lauren's arm around her as she takes the picture from above. It's an innocent enough picture, Lauren reasons. 

Certainly more innocent then the next one she'd taken anyway, where Ally's pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth and raising a hand to grasp her chin affectionately. That one she doesn't post, but her thumb hovers over it as she resists setting it as her lock screen.

The picture she just posted is innocent enough, but it still makes her heart flutter at the glimpse of a _something_ that she might've just put out there. It's been a couple of weeks since their first time, and still no one knows how well the curve of Ally's body fits into hers, nor the things she whispers affectionately into her ear whenever she can - and there's nothing about this picture that would make that obvious.

Still, having something like this out there acts as a reminder to herself that this thing between them is real and it's _there_ , regardless of who knows. 

It grounds her, in a way, that she doesn't feel panicky about whether or not anyone would look further into it, because she realizes that she's nothing but happy at what lies underneath.

"I like this," Lauren comments idly, glancing once more at her phone before putting it away. Ally just smiles at her knowingly and takes a sip of her coffee as they wait for the girls to come down so they can head to rehearsals.

 

*******

 

"Lauren, why are you so damn sappy?" Normani asks her one day as she's scrolling through her tumblr, and Lauren really regrets having hooked her into it in times like these.

"Gee, can't I be happy?" Lauren asks with a roll of her eyes. She knows exactly what post Normani's talking about, and it was a sappy romantic little thing that Lauren had reblogged a few days back without thinking.

"Sure," Mani drawls out. "I think you should change your background to something a bit more flowery to go along with your posts, though."

Lauren huffs when Camila fails at hiding her laugh at the comment. "Ally, tell them to lay off me," Lauren whines, dropping back into Ally on the couch they're sharing with Dinah.

"Lay off her, guys," Ally says, covering Lauren's eyes gently with a hand as Lauren lays her head on her stomach. "Don't y'all know she can't take the truth?"

"Allyson!" Lauren huffs indignantly, pushing her hand off as she sits back up. "You're supposed to be the nice one here."

"I'm sorry," Ally giggles, pushing away from Dinah's side to clutch at Lauren's arm. "Thou shalt not bear false witness, you know," she says cheekily, tongue sticking out between her teeth as she grins at her.

"Honestly," Lauren exclaims, rolling her eyes exaggeratedly and resting back against the couch with her arms crossed, lips twitching stubbornly into a smile despite her best attempts at looking annoyed.

The girls end up switching topics after laughing some more at her, and when Ally takes the chance to draw closer to whisper by her ear, Lauren leans into her under the guise of hearing her better. "I kind of really want to kiss you right now," Ally hushes, fingertips running lightly down her forearm and making shivers run down Lauren's side.

Lauren looks back at her with her lip caught between her teeth, making a split second decision that has her heart lurching in her chest anxiously. "Well," she says, eyes flitting down to Ally's lips, "why don't you then?"

Ally's eyebrows lift in surprise instantly, and the stunned look she throws her looks like she's trying to gauge if she's being serious or not. When Lauren does nothing but look back at her with a tiny little nervous smile, Ally's lips slowly spread into a smile before she lets out a small squeal and leans in to make good on her word.

Lauren's chest feels like it's on the brink of failing her as she kisses her back and waits for something, anything, to happen - for the rug to be pulled out from underneath her, and everything to suddenly go wrong. 

Nothing happens though, other than Ally smiling at her like she's her entire world when she pulls back from the brief kiss.

"Oh _shi_ \- my eyes! My eyes!" 

Well, that and Camila screaming and hurrying to cover her eyes with her hands when she notices them. " _You guys_!" she shrieks, turning away from them with her hands pressed to her face.

Dinah wolf whistles, making Ally giggle bashfully into Lauren's chest as she leans against her, and Normani looks like she may have just swallowed a frog. 

"Well then," Mani says slowly as Dinah reaches over to try and pull Camila's hands away from her face. "Okay, I guess that explains the posts."

Lauren's grin is wide and she feels her cheeks burning, but there's an elated sort of relief in her chest - she feels like she could do just about anything right now with her girlfriend pressed into her and her friends surrounding them.

"Still corny as heck, though," Mani adds.

"Oh, shut up."

*******

 

Things don't change.

Well, not _really_ , not between them, but some things do. Like the fact that whenever Dinah's annoyed at Lauren now, she shoves her away and yells for Ally to come get her girlfriend under control, or how Normani makes faces at Lauren whenever she's hugging Ally and trying to get Lauren to do her "jealous face" as she calls it. 

Or the fact that Camila now sits up cross legged on her bunk and asks Lauren about being with someone with a fond smile, cooing when Lauren talks about Ally until Lauren throws a pillow at her.

But there's no big pressure on Ally or Lauren to change - none of the girls make them feel on the spot, and when Ally tells her one day that she's probably never been this happy, Lauren resolutely does _not_ cry.

Really, though, she's just wiping her eye because her hair flew into it, no matter what Ally says later to tease her.

*******

 

"Laur, I want to introduce you to my parents," Ally tells her one day while on the tour bus. It makes Lauren pause her hand mid air while she's eating popcorn on the couch and watching Discovery Channel on the kitchen TV.

"Um, babe," she starts slowly, looking over at Ally where she's perched on the kitchen counter. "I hate to break this to you, but I kind of already know your parents, remember...?"

Ally rolls her eyes at her like it's somehow _Lauren_ that had just said something dumb. " _No_ , that's not what I meant," she says, and hops off from the counter and opens the cabinet to rummage around. "It's just that they know I'm with someone," Ally says as she sticks her head inside the cabinet as she tries to reach for something inside. "Well, and that that someone is. You know. A girl," she comments, pulling back from the cabinet and looking over the box of cereal she'd just grabbed before apparently deciding to put it back and heading over to the fridge instead.

"Right," Lauren says slowly, resuming her work on her bowl of popcorn as she watches Ally start making a sandwich.

"Camila, where did you hide the ham?!" Ally exclaims towards the back of the bus then, pausing with the fridge door opened.

" _Behind the grapes! But don't tell Dinah_ ," comes Camila's shout, and Ally shouts back a thanks and reaches in to retrieve it.

"Anyway," Ally continues, "they were so worried back when, um, Troy and I broke up," she says, glancing unsubtly back at Lauren at the mention of Troy. All Lauren does is raise her eyebrows and continue munching on her popcorn, so she continues as she focuses back on her sandwich. "And they really want to meet who's making me so happy, so. I was thinking today when I call them on Skype that maybe you could join me?"

"Well, sure," Lauren notes, pressing her lips together as a slight twinge of anxiety twists in her gut. There's nothing Ally loves more in this world than her family, so Lauren knows how much this means to her. She seriously hopes that the fact that _she's_ the one dating their daughter doesn't freak Ally's parents out, because she wouldn't know what to do then.

"And I think you could- well, if you want to, I mean, you could tell your family too," Ally suggests, failing miserably at trying to sound casual as she finishes her sandwich and doesn't look back at Lauren.

"Oh- well. I didn't know that... Um. I actually already told them?" Lauren says, eyebrows furrowing as she finishes the last of her popcorn, putting the bowl aside as the documentary she was watching goes to commercials.

"You did?" Ally asks in surprise, turning around to look at her with a shocked expression.

"Well, yeah, I mean... Was I not supposed to?"

"No, I mean-" Ally pauses, chews at her lip, and grins at her like she's trying to hold back how much it means to her that Lauren's shared this with her family. "When did you tell them?"

"I don't know, I think maybe last week?"

"Wait, is that why- oh my God, is that why your dad texted me like a string of cute emojis a few days ago?" Ally asks as she plops down next to Lauren on the couch, pulling her sandwich back when Lauren tries to take a bite from it. 

Lauren shrugs, because who knows when it comes to her dad sometimes.

"Oh my God, I didn't know what that was about, so I just replied with more emojis! And then he sent some more back so _I_ sent some more, and now we're stuck in this loop of happy and cute emojis that I had no idea was about _you_ ," Ally shrieks, breathless by the time she finishes her rant, and the incredulous look on her face has Lauren laughing loudly.

"Well, now you know," Lauren chuckles. "So can I get a bite of that?"

"Hell no, go and make your own," Ally retorts, twisting away from her and biting into her sandwich as she clutches it protectively to herself.

 

*******

 

"Oh no, Papa H, please don't," Lauren shakes her hands at the camera on Ally's laptop, panicking slightly when she sees Ally's dad is starting to cry after had Ally pulled her in for a dramatic introduction to "the person they'd been so looking forward to meet", as she'd put it.

" _It's okay, sweetheart, he's just a big ol' softie_ ," Ally's mom tells them from the video on the laptop. " _We're just really happy_ ," she says, smiling from her perch against some pillows, and crap, now Ally's looking like she's tearing up too, and Lauren is seriously not equipped to handle this.

(She says that, but her heart still nearly beats out of her chest at their wide grins and at Ally's assurance that Lauren makes her really happy. She just hopes that the blush on her cheeks is not as obvious as it feels when Ally kisses her cheek in front of the webcam.)

 

*******

Ally is _really_ thankful that Lauren agreed to that call earlier.

At least that's what she tells her as they lie in Lauren's bunk that night, pressing in against her side and whispering hotly into her ear as her fingers run over the sliver of skin between the hem of Lauren's top and the waistband of her shorts.

They were supposed to be watching a movie together, which was their excuse when Dinah threw them a look when she'd caught Ally climbing into Lauren's bunk with her, but that's honestly the last thing in Lauren's mind when she feels Ally drag her teeth along the rim of her ear the way she knows drives her crazy, whispering a _thank you_ that has her clenching her thighs together.

"Ally-" Lauren starts when Ally's hand slides under her top with purpose, but Ally shushes her softly, and who is Lauren to resist her when she slides on top of her and kisses her like that?

All she can do is try and hold back her sigh as she gladly parts her lips at the insist tug of Ally's teeth at her bottom lip, burying her hands in Ally's hair as Ally licks into her mouth and runs her fingers up to her chest beneath her shirt.

When Ally parts from her mouth to drag hot kisses along her jaw, dropping her hands to try and shimmy Lauren's top up her torso, Lauren runs her hands down Ally's back and clutches at her hips, trying to breathe quietly in the sudden heat of the bunk. When she raises a thigh to press up between Ally's, she can't help cursing under her breath at the feeling of Ally's warmth through her shorts against her own bare thigh.

"Shit," she mutters when Ally pants her name into her neck and grinds down against her thigh, and she just has to slide her hands down to grip Ally's ass and push her down into her thigh again with purpose, watching in near awe as Ally throws her head back with a harsh gasp as she moves into it.

Someone clears their throat loudly from one of the other bunks, and they freeze.

They stare back at each other with wide eyes, breathing heavily in the sudden silence as Lauren feels herself flushing up to her ears at having been caught. Ally's finally the first to react, laughing breathlessly and letting herself drop down to chuckle quietly into Lauren's neck.

"Let me get a raincheck on that," Lauren mutters in frustration, dropping her arms down to the bunk as she tries to steady her breathing. Ally chuckles again with a hush of breath into the curve of her neck, and she's _really_ not helping matters by doing that while still straddling Lauren's thigh.

Ally climbs off her lap to lay beside her instead, so Lauren turns off the movie that's still running in the background and awkwardly shoves her top back down over her breasts and down to her hips, letting Ally pull her over to cuddle against her back.

She takes a moment to drop a kiss under Ally's ear before settling against her, murmuring a quiet _I love you_ as she does, and smiling when Ally clutches her hand tightly against her stomach as her response.

 

*******

 

Being out to the girls makes it harder to keep things under wraps. They forget, sometimes, that it's not just _them_ \- they've got crews, both their own and other people's, and are constantly surrounded by numerous people.

Lauren's reminded of that a couple of days later when she's resting against the wall in a hallway of the venue they're to perform in later, waiting with Ally to be called in to start rehearsals. She has her arms wrapped around Ally, hands clasped casually against the low of her back as Ally hugs her waist and rests her cheek against her chest, "resting her eyes" as she'd call it (or nearly falling asleep as Lauren would). 

It's the kind of thing that comes so naturally to them by now that Lauren's genuinely confused when they are heading towards the stage a little later and Big Rob winks at her and offers her a fist bump. 

Apparently management gets word of things and has "concerns".

They're pulled into a meeting a few days later and are asked what their plans are, whatever _that_ means. The annoyed crease to Lauren's brow and the angry pout to her lips are hard to keep at bay, and Ally touches her leg and throws her a look that is clear in the message for her to take it down a notch.

In the end, they agree that if they ever make the decision to go public with things, they'll "just let PR know first so that they can be prepared".

It's said to them as if it's in their best interest, out of concern for the two of them rather than the brand they represent, and the mere thought of it has Lauren fuming once the meeting's over and she's finally able to march out like she'd wanted to do from the beginning.

"Lauren, stop," Ally pleads as she follows her through the hallways, and Lauren finally stops to lean against a wall and run her hands through her hair, breathing deeply to try and calm herself down.

"I can't believe we just had to sit through that bullshit," Lauren says harshly, leaning her hands onto her knees and shaking her head. "The fucking _nerve-"_

"Laur." Ally looks at her with a stern look for a moment, before softening visibly and stepping closer. "Look... if you stop to think about it, it wasn't that bad."

"Wasn't that ba-- Ally, they literally just-"

Ally raises a hand with an impatient look, and Lauren huffs and crosses her arms, waiting for her to continue.

"It wasn't, Lauren. They didn't tell us to stop, they didn't give us any sort of ultimatums. We weren't told anything we didn't already know, and frankly, I'm relieved to have PR back us up if we need ever need them to."

She's right, of course she is, and Lauren kind of hates it. "I know," she sighs, uncrossing her arms and looking back at Ally in defeat. "I just hate that it's any of their freaking business," she admits, and Ally reaches a hand to Lauren's hair and pulls her down into a hug.

"I know, honey," Ally mutters as Lauren wraps her arms tightly around her and breathes in deeply, letting the feeling of her calm her down. 

 

*******

They talk about it a little better later, after Lauren's had the chance to vent to the other girls, get their support, then vent some more.

In the end it doesn't change anything.

Ally's still incredibly private about that part of her life, so it's not like she's looking to broadcast their relationship to the media any more than she was with her previous relationships, and Lauren is fine with just sharing it with the people close to her and who know her best.

Everything else they can just figure out as they go along, like they always do.

*******

 

"Well then," Lauren comments idly to Camila after the girls leave them alone, looking back at her and waiting to see what she'll say.

Normani had declared she was stealing Ally for the day because she was tired of having Lauren "steal her girl" for herself all the time, and Lauren had just stood there and watched as Dinah had loudly declared she was coming with them. Lauren had failed not to laugh at Ally's helpless look as she was shuffled along between Normani and Dinah, and now she's left to stare back at Camila, who slurps loudly at her milkshake and shrugs her shoulders at her.

"Okay then. We're going out too. Come on, Camz," Lauren decides, and tugs her along to get their things and head out to do something. Anything.

Doing something ends up being following Camila around and laughing at her enthusiasm at the most random assortment of things, including but not limited to the logo of the food truck where Lauren buys her a hotdog.

She realizes, as she watches Camila try to frame her hotdog and the food truck logo for a picture with her phone, that she's missed this. She's missed genuinely spending time with Camila and the other girls - her friends - and she tells Camila as much fondly.

"Awww," Camila exclaims, pulling her into a hug. "I love you too, Lo," she exclaims, dropping a loud kiss onto Lauren's cheek that Lauren promptly wipes off with a joking roll of her eyes. "Come on, I want to go in here," Camila tells her as she finishes her hotdog and tugs her by the hand to head into the store before them.

It's a jewelry store, and Camila explains that she wanted to buy Sofi some earrings for her birthday, so Lauren decides to browse around distractedly while Camila looks over her options.

She briefly ponders over getting a couple of rings for herself, figuring she might as well treat herself to something, but nothing quite catches her eye, so she carries on and trails her eyes along the items in display distractedly until something catches her attention.

"Would you like me to get that for you to take a closer look?"

Lauren snaps her eyes up in surprise at the store clerk, then nods mutely, watching him open the glass case to remove the necklace she'd been staring at.

It's gorgeous, Lauren thinks, and it might just be perfect. It's a discrete gold chain with two interweaved gold circles for pendants, no bigger than the tip of her thumb. She raises the necklace to eye level and watches as the circles rest almost seamlessly onto each other, and when Lauren rests it against her palm she can't help thinking about how it would look against Ally's collarbone.

"Watcha got over there?" Camila asks, hopping over to her side and looking over her shoulder. "Ooh, that's pretty. Makes me think of, like, wedding bands. Or promise rings!"

"Yeah," Lauren says with a smile. "Think Ally would like it?"

"Aw," Camila coos. "I'm sure she'll love it, Lo."

The grin Camila gives her has Lauren blushing and telling her to shut up, but she still tells the clerk she'll take the necklace, ignoring the price tag as she just hands her credit card over and asks him to wrap it up for her.

 

*******

 

They have a party to attend today, in celebration of the cover shoot feature they recently did for Teen Vogue.

This means, of course, that they have to attend to a "party" where they'll first pose for pictures and then pretend _not_ to pose for pictures - and then, if they're lucky, there'll be an _actual party_ afterwards, which Lauren hopes to God will be the case.

If she's learned anything by now, is that there are "parties", and there are _parties_. 

The first ones are nothing but excuses for publicity, and you cannot expect to breathe without there being a "source" somewhere nearby ready to gush all about everything they think they see the next day.

 _Parties_ , however, are where everyone seems to be in on the same pact. When all everyone wants to do is relax and not have it plastered on the news the next day, it seems like there's an implicit agreement to keep out of each other's business. PR doesn't tend to frequent these, either, because sometimes it's best not knowing what goes on, and given the safe space to be kept, invitations tend to be restricted to trust circles that are formed as time goes by.

When Lauren explains this to Ally and Camila, they laugh at her and tell her she acts like she's talking about the mafia, but whatever. The point is that that's the kind of party Lauren can actually relax in and have a good time, which is why she gives a discreet fist pump when they're subtly invited for the after-party by another celebrity attending the event.

Plus, there's alcohol there, and Lauren plans to make the absolute best use of it that she can.

What Lauren doesn't plan on, however, is that Ally seems to have decided on the same approach. Which is great and everything, but this ends up meaning that Lauren has to sit there and watch her girlfriend dance close to Mani while wearing this ridiculously tiny tight green dress that has Lauren's eyes drifting.

Because as it is, Ally is very much the dance party kind of drunk, and Lauren, apparently, is the _stare so intently at Ally's legs in that short dress she thinks she'll go cross-eyed_ kind of drunk.

She's given up on being subtle a while ago, and gets enough of staring when Ally's eyes meet hers from the dance floor. Their gazes don't break as Ally raises a hand to her own hair, the other holding on to Mani's shoulder as they dance, and Lauren resolutely puts her glass down and marches over towards them.

Lauren has to bite her lip when she slides in behind Ally and has Ally back up into her, helping Lauren get into the rhythm of the bass line thumping above them. When Lauren places her hands on Ally's hips from behind and moves into her, she notices Mani shake her head and say something over the music to Ally before starting to walk off.

Lauren honestly would feel bad if not for Ally grinding her ass back into her and raising a hand to grip the back of her neck and pull her in close. As it is, she just lets the alcohol pump through her and mix in with the feeling of Ally dancing against her as her head goes dizzy, and when Ally drops her head back on her shoulder and turns her face to nuzzle into her at they move to the beat, Lauren feels her entire body thrum with want for her.

She tells Ally just how much she's driving her crazy, leaning in close to her ear so she can be heard above the music, one hand edging dangerously close to the hem of Ally's dress as she does so. She can't hear what Ally says back above the thumping of the bass, but she gets the message anyway when Ally's hand slides from her neck to her cheek as she gets her to lean her head in to kiss her.

Their lips part when the angle gets to be too much, but Ally still buries a hand in Lauren's hair and keeps her close as they share the same breath for a few more moments, Lauren not resisting a nip to Ally's lip before Ally closes her eyes and stops craning her neck back, resuming her moves to the beat against her instead. .

Somewhere in the back of her mind Lauren knows her hand placement is being far from PG, but _God_ , how could it be, really? She realizes then that as much as she was looking forward to this after-party, suddenly she cannot wait to leave.

 

*******

They don't leave, but Ally does end up dragging Lauren off by the hand into the bathroom and letting herself be pressed against the wall of a closed stall with her legs wrapped around Lauren's waist. 

Lauren's absolutely fine with this alternative, given that the end result is a glassy eyed Ally whimpering into the palm of the hand Lauren has to press over her mouth to muffle the sounds she makes once Lauren finally has her hand under that damn dress.

 

*******

Lauren rolls over and presses her face into her pillow, sighing tiredly into it. She has got to stop doing this, but no matter how tired she may be, she still finds herself waking up in the middle of the night far more often than she'd like.

She's thankful that they're in their apartments in LA right about now, because she's pretty if she'd inhaled into a hotel pillow like she just did into hers she might have died from that weirdly bland, stuffy smell that hotel pillows have. As it is, she just inhales the scent of her own perfume mixed in with Ally's shampoo, and tries to hold back a yawn.

Rolling back over onto her back, she doesn't bother holding back the grin that comes when she remembers the after-party from last night - or, technically, from this morning, given the time they'd finally left it. She doesn't even mind that Ally had retreated to her own room in apartment for some sleep rather than Lauren's (technically Ally had just gone there to get changed, and Lauren had been thinking about joining her when Dinah had pointed at her and said a very stern _no_ like she was talking to a dog, so whatever).

Her eyes drop closed and she feels herself close to falling back asleep, when she hears her door being pushed open gently and blinks her eyes back open. 

Hoisting herself up onto her elbows and turning on her bedside lamp, she looks towards the door to find Ally shuffling inside and closing the door quietly behind herself. When Ally turns the lock before heading further inside, Lauren raises an eyebrow inquiringly.

"Ally?"

Ally raises a finger to her lips, signaling for her to be quiet, and trudges closer, tugging at the hem of her camisole slightly before lifting her knees onto the bed. She's crawling over and settling onto Lauren's thighs before Lauren even has the chance to sit up properly.

The kiss she gives her then, open mouthed and languid, instantly has Lauren's heartbeat going erractic, hands instantly curling around Ally's waist to pull her close.

Her eyes remain shut tight as Ally pulls back from the kiss with Lauren's lip caught between her teeth before she letting it go, and then Ally's placing a hand to Lauren's chest and pushing her back gently as she starts shimmying down her body, pushing the sheets down with her as she goes.

Lauren's breath falters and seems to echo loudly in the room as Ally rakes her fingers down her thighs and spreads Lauren's legs apart to settle between them. She has no idea what's gotten over Ally, but she's far for complaining, swallowing thickly and slamming her eyes shut instead when she feels Ally pressing her open mouth against her center over the boyshorts she'd worn to bed.

She raises her hips when Ally pulls back and gives her a nudge, letting her drag her underwear down her shivering legs. Once they're off, Ally slides back over to drop a kiss to her mouth. "You'll have to be quiet," Ally whispers, dropping another kiss to the corner of her mouth. 

Lauren nods dumbly and lifts her head quickly for another kiss before Ally's shuffling back down her body again. She thinks she hears Ally whisper something about not being able to stop thinking about this as she drops open mouthed kisses down her navel where she's pushed her shirt up, but she can't be sure given how loudly her own pulse is hammering in her ears.

Lauren catches her lip between her teeth and cranes her neck down, watching with bated breath as Ally's wet kisses trail further down, and it's ridiculous how fast her body goes from zero to twenty because of Ally. Ally looks back up at her with dark eyes when Lauren's gut clenches at the feeling of Ally's warm breath against her heated center, and then Ally's leaning in as her hands scratch down the outside of Lauren's thighs.

Lauren's hips buck when Ally presses her open mouth to her, and she has to cut herself off from gasping as her head snaps back to press into her pillow at Ally's pleased hum against her. She buries her hands into Ally's hair and breathes harshly through her nose, pressing her lips together and shutting her eyes, chest heaving along with the run of Ally's tongue against her.

" _Shit_ -" she squeaks unintentionally when Ally's strokes against her go from languid and teasing to purposeful, and she has to yank a hand from Ally's hair to press against her own mouth when Ally squeezes her leg in a silent warning.

She breathes into her own hand harshly as she tries not to moan out loudly, and her hips undulate against the bed as Ally seems intent to have her screaming out despite her warnings. Ally's hands run from her thighs to her hips, reaching up for her breasts beneath the shirt Lauren's still wearing before trailing back down, fingers scratching at her skin as she does.

She already feels herself getting ridiculously close, heart hammering in her chest and body pulsing as Ally pulls back briefly to pant against her as she seems to catch her breath - Lauren glances down just in time to see Ally lick her lips before pressing back in, and when Ally's eyes drop closed as she she lets out a moan that Lauren more feels than hears, she's a goner.

Despite her best efforts, a deep groan rips itself from her throat when her orgasm hits her, and she has to bite into the side of her own hand, hard, to keep from being too loud, eyes slamming closed and body going taut as the burst of pleasure washes over her.

She feels suspended in the moment, but eventually finds herself relaxing back down into the bed, her other hand relaxing where she'd been gripping at Ally's hair, and she whimpers unintentionally and twitches as Ally still laps gently at her before finally pulling back.

Lauren feels Ally wipe her mouth gently against the inside of her thigh before Ally starts trailing kisses back up her body, and she doesn't bother opening her eyes as she lets her now sore hand drop from her mouth to sigh into the languid kiss Ally presses against her mouth, gut clenching instinctively at the taste of herself on her.

"Jesus, Ally," she breathes out dazedly when Ally pulls back from the kiss, still trying to get her breathing back under control, beyond any hope that her heart ever does.

"I love this," Ally mutters, a hand running under's Lauren back against the bed to clutch her close into a semi hug, dropping affectionate kisses along Lauren's jaw. "I love you," she whispers by her ear, and Lauren breathes her in and holds her close, her chest swelling with emotion.

"You too," Lauren mutters, running her fingers down Ally's s back affectionately and swallowing deeply at the gentle little kiss that Ally drops onto her cheek before she settles on top of her with a sigh. "So much."

 

*******

Waking up the next morning has Lauren blinking blearily at the sun peeking through her curtains, and she groans as she rolls over to bury her face into Ally's shoulder next to her.

Ally's still sound asleep, breathing heavily as she lies onto her stomach facing away from Lauren, so Lauren just yawns sleepily into her and settles for resting there for as long as possible, eyes closed and fingers running gently over the small of Ally's back.

Lauren chuckles to herself as she lets her thoughts drift to memories of the two of them, thinking back to the time when she was crushing ridiculously hard on Ally (and trying desperately _not to_ ).

"What ya laughing about?" Ally asks drowsily, seemingly having just woken up and she muffles her words against her pillow, hardly moving from her position as she does.

"Just thinking about my puppy crush on you way back when," Lauren replies, pressing a light kiss to the curve of Ally's shoulder and muttering a good morning against the skin.

Ally hums inquiringly, and Lauren takes it as her asking her to tell her more about it.

"It was really bad," Lauren chuckles, adjusting onto her side and keeping up her gentle caresses over Ally's back. "Like, writing in my journal about it bad."

The snort Ally lets out against her pillow has Lauren grinning, and she watches as Ally rolls over to face her. She giggles when she notices the the mark on Ally's cheek from a crease of the pillow, and runs her knuckles over the mark as she continues.

"I dragged myself with you to Waffle House like how many times? Like, that should be proof enough of how much I was into you. It was like four in the morning one time, Ally."

"Shut up," Ally mutters with a smile, sliding closer so she can throw an arm over Lauren's stomach and nuzzle in close. "What else?" she asks as Lauren's fingers run gently down the back of her neck before trailing lightly along the chain of the necklace she'd given her.

"Remember how I used to text you at the weirdest hours sometimes?" She ignores Ally's _you still do_ against her neck for the sake of her story. "That was probably when I was going through your old pictures on Instagram, like, sixty seven weeks old stuff. Oh, God, actually, I just remembered, I had this huge crush on you for a while when we were on X Factor."

Ally pulls back and braces herself onto her elbows, looking down at her with a surprised little smile. "You did? Seriously?"

Lauren presses a hand to her own forehead and chuckles in embarrassment. "Oh, God, yeah. Like after we got to know each other? I used to think you were so pretty, and you always smelled really good."

"Oh my Gosh," Ally coos, tickling her fingers lightly over Lauren's side. "You never told me that."

"Because it's embarrassing!" Lauren mutters into her own hand, remembering her shy self whenever Ally interacted with her back then. "God, I was such a loser."

"You kind of still are, you know," Ally comments teasingly as she pulls Lauren's hand away from her face. "That's so cute," she clutches Lauren's fingers in her own and drops a kiss to them with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Camila probably doesn't remember it, but I used to talk a lot about you. Like, first I'd complain because you were _too_ sweet, and then I started rambling about you being _so sweet_ instead," Lauren's voice goes high pitches as she mocks her younger self, and Ally's bright laugh has Lauren's heart fluttering in her chest.

Ally sits up then and adjusts her nightgown, propping up her pillow against the headboard and resting back against it, smiling down at Lauren when she leans in to rest her head on her stomach and close her eyes. "Oh my God, that actually reminds me," Ally says then, fingers pausing where they'd been running through Lauren's hair. "Someone asked me what I thought about you and Camila a few days back."

"What?" Lauren chuckles, turning around so she can look up at Ally from her spot. "What did you say?"

"Oh, God, I don't know. I actually," Ally laughs then, stomach shaking under Lauren's head as she does. "I kind of ran off?"

"You did what? Ally," Lauren exclaims in a laugh.

"I don't know! Like what was I supposed to say?"

"You should've said you're super into Camren," Lauren mutters, nuzzling into her before stretching her arms up lazily. "That was bound to get a reaction."

"Oh please, and have you slap me when it trended on Twitter later? I don't think so."

"I'd never slap you," Lauren says, reaching up to push Ally's hair behind her ear. "Well, I mean, unless you, you know... _wanted_ me to," she says then, cheekily, scratching down the back of Ally's neck as she grins up at her.

 

*******

"So, girls, come on," the interviewer starts, grinning at them. "Tell us what's new!"

This should be the last interview for the day, and Ally's pretty sure it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to finish. She's sat between Camila and Mani as the interviewer tries to guide them through the interview as best as they can, which, if she's being honest, isn't all that well.

She giggles to herself and watches as Lauren and Dinah have a semi argument over one of their answers, Normani reaching over a hand to try to appease them while trying to give out her answer on top of theirs, and the interviewer points the microphone uncertainly between them.

Lauren's exasperated sigh when she meets her eyes has Ally biting the inside of her cheek, because she knows Lauren more than well enough to recognize that shift in her eyes when she looks back at her.

It has Ally biting back a grin as she thinks back to the first time she'd noticed it. She has no idea what was happening at the time, exactly; she just remembers Lauren's grumpiness, the frown on her forehead and the crease to her eyebrows as she glared unsubtly at something or another.

She remembers even better how Lauren had looked back at her when Ally had touched her hand to Lauren's wrist, running a thumb over the back of her hand softly to try and appease her. Most of all, she remembers the warmth in her chest when Lauren had looked back at her then, features relaxing when their eyes'd met and her lips quirking up stubbornly into a smile.

Ally would come to be very familiar with the breathlessness that came to her when Lauren reacted like that to her. She didn't quite the know the significance of that moment back then, but to this day Ally considers it the moment she'd fallen in love with Lauren.

She forces herself to focus back on the interview, looking away from the glint in Lauren's eyes as her fingers trace over the necklace Lauren had given her, because she can feel how unsubtle she's being down to her core.

"And are all of you single and ready to mingle? Ally, what about yourself?"

There's a noise that sounds a whole lot like a chuckle forced into a cough from Lauren, covered by a loud laugh from Camila next to her, and Ally's mind still lingers on the memory of Lauren's fingers curling around hers the day Ally had started realizing how she felt for her. "No, sorry," she replies to the interviewer, fingers pausing over her necklace before she drops them to her lap. "Happily committed gal here."

She can feel the girls' gazes turning towards her at her answer, but all she can do is press her lips together to hold back her grin, eyes turning quickly to Lauren just in time to catch her look of surprise start to melt into an ill-concealed grin.

Ally pulls her eyes back away quickly then, clutching her shaking hands onto her lap and turning her attention to Camila to see how _she_ was going to handle the question.

All things considered, it _does_ feel good to be a little obvious sometimes.

**Author's Note:**

> The necklace Lauren gives Ally is pretty much [this one](http://ep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-40261249021697/selena-gold-circles-necklace-11.gif).  
> Also, that reference to Camren is entirely tongue in cheek, and inspired by that one video of Ally running away from fans at the airport (which I cannot for the life of me find a link to).
> 
> Thanks to [morgandexter](http://morgandexter.tumblr.com) for being a sweetheart and staying up with me until at least 2AM during the work week while I worked on this, and then for putting up with my complaining about being too tired at work the next day.  
> Thanks to my dear [greytune](http://greytune.tumblr.com) as well for refraining from making too many edits when reading this over this time around. I know how hard that must have been for you.
> 
> As always, feel free to come hop on over to [tumblr](http://generalfrings.tumblr.com) \- I'd love to hear from you guys.


End file.
